China slams Obama meeting with Dalai Lama

Terming the meeting as gross violation of international norms, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu urged Washington to make amends for the meeting with a man Beijing views as a separatist. Dalai Lama likes 'energetic, tall' Obama

In a pre-dawn response hours after the Tibetan spiritual leader got a cordial welcome at the White House, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu urged Washington to make amends for the meeting with a man Beijing views as a separatist.

"The US act grossly violated the norms governing international relations and ran counter to the principles" set out in joint statements on cooperation by the two countries, Ma said, quoted by state news agency Xinhua.

The meeting "also went against the repeated commitments by the US government that the US recognises Tibet as part of China and gives no support to 'Tibet independence'," the news agency quoted Ma as saying.

Ma demanded that the United States, "seriously consider" China's stance and immediately take steps to "wipe out the baneful impact and stop conniving and supporting anti-China separatist forces," Xinhua said.

China fiercely opposes any foreign contact with the 74-year-old Buddhist leader, who fled his Chinese-ruled homeland in 1959 for India and has since built an enthusiastic global following for his spiritual teachings.